Monday, November 15, 2010

F1 Season 2010 = Awesomeness.

Yup, that pretty much is the emotion being felt right now. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has become the youngest World Champion, after winning the Abu Dhabi GP, his fifth win of the season. Why am I gratified? Two reasons : I love Vettel. And I've noticed, for fans of Raikkonen and Schumacher(me me me!), he seems to be the next best driver to support. I digress, the second reason - Alonso didn't win! Haha suck it, you bank-robbing, Kimi-ousting, team-order-imposing , whining piece of eyebrow!

But moving on quickly, lets get to the what was and what should be. A brief account of this season(whatever I remember of it, at least) and what I wish for next year.

No.1, indeed. Click to see a bigger image

Sebastian Vettel. He's young, talented and comes with a sense of humor that keeps those interview halls filled with giggles. Whether he's winning races with Kate's Dirty Sister or pulling Mark Webber's fractured leg, he simply is fun to watch. This season,he lost over 66 points due to mechanical or technical faults, but never gave up. He never led the championship this entire season, but he never gave up! I admit he's not particularly good at overtaking without crashing. He's temperamental too, who doesn't remember him showcasing his rage after his crash with Webber in Turkey? But he's just 23, I think that's pardonable. I'm counting on him getting better. Winning the championship the way he did - with a win, was a big moment forus, fans him and one can tell there's more to come his way.

The Webber jump

Webber is fun! He talks crazy, he advertises for milk and he also set off the most fun meme in F1history. Oh of course, he also drives well and wins races, provided he has a good car. He came close to winning the championship this year, good luck to him for the next!

Alonso. ha! Ferrari paid Raikkonen a hefty amount of cash, so he would leave behind a warm seat for Alonso to place his tushy in. But instead of winning a championship for the Italian team , Alonso blackmailed whined his way to becoming their driver no.1. He not only asked his engineer across the radio to shut up , because he was too upset to listen, he also provided us that priceless piece of theatrics in Germany, when he declared it 'ridiculous' that Massa was ahead of him and wasn't giving way. The Ferrari chaps promptly delivered those classic lines to Felipe baby : Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message? So, Felipe gave way. Of course, that wasn't a team order. Despite the fact that they immediately apologized to him - on air. Here's the entire drama put together in one video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s00OfqnJROk And here I thought Shakespeare was an ace in the Tragedy category. But then, I guess its ok. Alonso won a few races, he brought the team an entire bank as a sponsor! He's got to be a worthy champi...*cough* *choke!*.. heck, I can't even kid about it.

Mr.Whine reminds me of Petrov. Vitali Petrov drove a fault-less race, keeping Alonso behind him for about 30 laps, contributing to Vettel's championship win. Alonso sure wasn't a happy man at the end of it and he made it pretty clear to poor Petrov:

Who knew it was illegal to race for points? Alright, lets leave Alonso alone for now. Petrov has made scores of fans across the world happy with his drive in Abu Dhabi. He has also been performing decently well throughout the season. Him, Nico Hulkenberg - who grabbed that lucky(yet awesome) pole in Brazil - are two rookies who are likely to lose their seats now. I sincerely hope they manage to get themselves back into F1, they definitely are good racers. There's also Kubica and Kobayashi - both who drove superbly well this season, that I'd like to see in good cars, next season. Maybe Heidfeld could get lucky too.

Naturally blonde, he is.

Hamilton, Button, Massa, Rubens, they've all had a pretty good year. (Rubens was nearly driven into a wall, you say? hmmm ) Lewis and Button, in particular, have been fair racers all through and gave Mclaren a respectable second in the Constructor's title. But my driver of the year is probably Goldilocks. Nico Rosberg, as you know him. He didn't flinch when Schumacher was made his team-mate and has driven very consistently race after race, bar an accident or two. He surely has helped Mercedes in jumping Renault for fourth in the Constructor's standings more than Michael has. So, cheers to him!

Talking about the Constructor's title, well done Red Bull! They were hell-bent on not using team orders and now they've got both titles in their bag. Something Ferrari could learn. Not to forget, they had a brilliant car. I'm one step away from starting to worship their engineer Adrian Newey.Also, Force India missed 6th to Williams by a single point. That hurts. About time they became regular faces in the top 5. C'mon Team Mallya! Oh, also, I'm praying the team principal of Lotus (or whatever that team is called) , Mr.Tony Fernandes, is as pumped about winning his bet with the boss of Virgin Racing, 'Sir' Richard Branson, as I am. The bet went something like this: The losing owner must turn stewardess and serve drinks in the winner's Airline company, for a day. Now since Tony's team has done better than Branson's, we're going to get to see Branson play dress-up. Hopefully.

Air Asia will most certainly have all tickets sold out on that will-be-eventful day.

Michael Schumacher. What can I say? To say it was a disappointing year would be an understatement. Nothing can take away all those brilliant drives over 15 years of racing, before his first retirement. He'll always be the hero that made me love Formula1. The gap of 3 years, the transformation the sport has undergone while he wasn't here, his age..whatever be the reason he didn't step onto the podium this season, I'm glad he's coming back next year. After his accident at Abu Dhabi though, I doubt his wife would allow for it.

I suppose I've covered most things that have been hovering in my head. Hat tip to that genius Bernie - thanks to the new points system, the Driver's title had four contenders to the very end. Also, Bernie, continue to bring in ex-drivers as special-race stewards, please. Damon Hill in particular.*drool*

The 2010 season has been fantastic. I know I miss F1 already, but I'll keep myself busy with dreams of going to a race next season. Kimi's 10th in WRC standings sure are good for a debut, but I'd rather have him back in F1. Along with wishing for his return, Schumi's return to his winning ways and Vettel keeping his momentum, I have one other wish for next season. There was one fantastic fellow who made me enjoy F1 mid-season, when I thought the circus was getting too bland. He's amazingly crazy and can overtake a driver faster than I can type this sentence. If there's anyone out there who deserves a winning car, it's the guy who made the Japanese GP the best race of this year. Kamui Kobayashi, stay awesome, you mad fellow.